My Month in iPhone Photos

Do you ever take TONS of photos on your phone only to never do anything with them?! Something I do on a plane flight is always go through my photos and delete any I don't need anymore. I'm flying today to Palm Springs to meet my mama for a few days, so I thought I'd show you my month in photos before I do the clean-out. I hope you enjoy a peek into my iPhotos! 

A couple weeks ago we had the worst weather I've ever experienced here in Michigan. It was -20 for days in a row and our pipes froze for 48 hours (thanks to my neighbors for letting me shower!) BUT before all that, we took Lincoln outside to a dog park and let him run and play since he wouldn't be doing much of that during the storm. He's so funny in snow...he just loves eating it, which always results in snowballs around his beard.

This is one of the design plans for a client kitchen. I'm SO excited about this kitchen, I could burst. My client's wanted a warm wood tone island, a little darker than their floors, with creamy / rustic cabinets around the perimeter and quartz counters that blend with the cream tones in the cabinets.

This brick will be laid in a herringbone pattern above the range, which will give it a hint of texture and warmth without being too flashy. It's going to be so lovely!

I'm LOVING Beautycounter's new Countercontrol cleanser. My two younger cousins have the whole line and told me their skin has cleared up in just a couple weeks of using it. That always thrills me!! I used this a couple times a week in the morning to wash my face and it keeps the oil at bay. It smells like grapefruit!

 Here is another client project I'm working on. This one is for a whole house renovation! The large wave tile you see will be the master shower walls and the hex tiles will be the shower floor and niche. It's going to be beautiful!

In early February I went to my friend Chelsea's house to make our floral arrangements for my new Flowers for Your Home series. We had so much fun playing with blooms-- we share our love for flowers!

They brightened my week so much!

Out tile shopping for another client at one of my favorite stores-- Virginia Tile!

This is the game plan for another new build. Large subway tiles on the walls of the shower and this fun pattern in the niche (where you put your shampoos) She wants to go with the dark charcoal gray grout. I'm leaning towards the medium gray, since I think it'd be more classic. What do you think?

Lots of my mornings start of with tea (cream caramel decaf with a splash of so delicious coconut creamer in french vanilla, thanks to my friend Jill for the rec!) Normally these mugs go away after mid-January, but that's when we got the insane storms and it just felt right for them to stay out ;)

Lincoln and I taking a Sunday nap. Note his tongue!! Ha.

Visited another of my favorite clients a couple weeks ago and saw the progress on a bunch of rooms and helped them style the house after moving in. The nursery is SO SWEET. Can't wait to go back in a few weeks to finish it off!

Okay, ladies. I've always wanted a pair of patterned leggings. I went to Nordstrom rack to try and find some and I did like this purple and pink pair, but I thought they were too thin ultimately, so the hunt continues. Have any recs?!

Ah, my Valentine's Day roses from my husband!

 I had a big day on Valentine's Day. I went to see a new venue in town and immediately fell in love. Can't wait to host something here for Bloom soon ;)

 This is the kitchen of the venue....GOALS.

After the venue tour, I went to visit my friend Rhi who was selling her beautiful soaps and flower arrangements for V-Day. I got some soaps--they're amazing!

One of my good friends is starting her own sleep consulting business and there's nothing I love more than women following their passions and using their gifts to support their families! I was helping her come up with a logo design and this was my favorite one. Can't wait to show you the final logo once everything is all set. It turned out so cute!

While on Instagram one day, I found this and loved it. You should read it because I think it's really important:

Last weekend my husband and I went to a new coffee and bakery shop in Grand Rapids called Rise Authentic. We got coffee and hot chocolate, donut holes (everything they make is Vegan and Gluten Free, literally the BEST I've ever had!)

 The most exciting thing was seeing my friend Chelsea's mural on the wall. She's SO talented...I can't handle it. The ladies next to us were saying how amazing the mural was and I leaned over and told them I am friends with the artist (couldn't resist;)) They were v excited about that. I feel so proud to know the artist and call her a friend!

This past weekend I also took my husband to see the progress on a client's house. The fireplace insert, windows, and some doors were in! It was so fun to show him some of our work. 

Sunday morning doodle snuggles. Sometimes I ask myself if there's a human living inside of him, hehe.

That's my month in photos!
xoxo







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The Short List No. 10

Here with one of my favorite posts today! Let me know some of your answers in the comments!
What's new: Well, the biggest news is my husband and I are house hunting! We went to see 7 houses last weekend and it was great to see different neighborhoods (liked some, ruled out others) and see what sort of features we want in a house (like, attached garage, please!) Our plan is to get a bit of a fixer upper. One that has good bones, but might need a kitchen and bath remodel along with paint and floors. I'm not super into moving walls, replacing windows, etc. because that gets too costly. This will likely be a short-term house for us...not one we plan to stay in for too long. But I'm really excited to share this journey with you soon hopefully.  What I'm cooking: this week we got Hello Fresh (and all the people said AMEN!) but I also picked up a new pot roast I saw at Trader Joe's. It's in the crockpot as we speak and I'm planning to serve it with red skin potatoes and green beans. I'll let you know how it is. What I'm watching: Obviously The Bachelor ;) Who's your favorite? No spoilers!! My girlfriends and I watch it every Monday night together. We think Hannah G, Cassie or Caelynn. Do you read these recaps on the show? Sheaffer always makes me laugh!  My husband and I are almost done with FRIENDS (me for the 4th time and him for the 1st!) Lastly, I finally caved and watched the Gilmore Girls Year in a Life Netflix special. I liked episodes 1-2 but then I thought 3 got weird (with a lot of time spent on the neighborhood play! ha!) I still have the 4th to watch, which I'll watch next week while traveling.  What I'm wearing: A couple weeks ago I got home from church and noticed there was a HOLE in my jeans. I was mortified haha!! So I'm down to one pair of blue jeans and I'm pretty much living in them (I do have army green jeans, black and leggings, of course). But I'm loving my Kut from the Kloth jeans. I think I'll have to get another pair come summer! Maybe this ankle style.

For my upcoming trip, I rented a couple pieces from Rent The Runway. Can't wait to show you soon! What's on my desk: So many projects!! I have 2 new builds, 1 total renovation down to the studs, 1 decorating the main level and about to start finishing off the basement, finishing off a new build in the decorating phase now, and a couple smaller projects when I go to California. SO...I'm a busy bee right now! A couple pictures from recent client appointments:  This is a sneak peek from a little boy's nursery I'm doing. It's almost done!

This is our inspiration for a new construction laundry room. Our cabinets will be navy and the floor will be a cool hexagon tile. I can't wait!

This is the plan for a new build's master shower. I had you guys vote on subway tile size for the walls and big won-- which is what I loved, too! The patterned tile will be in the shampoo niche.

This is what we're thinking for another new build master bath. The quartz is the countertop, the medallion shape is the shower floor and niche and the square at the bottom is the color of the vanity. It's all sitting on top of the tile floor for the bathroom. It's going to be so lovely!

This was another possibility we played around with for a shower. The tiles ended up being too big for the floor, but it was a pretty design!

What I'm looking forward to: My trip to Palm Springs with my mom next week! I can't wait for some warm sunshine, a couple days by the pool, shopping and good eats ;) Then I'll fly up to the Bay Area with my mom to visit family for a week. I'll see my grandparents, my cousin who's having a baby in June, and probably some aunts and uncles. My brother will be out of town, so I won't get to see him, sadly.  Please send Palm Springs recs my way!

What I'm using most: Obsessed with this face oil for the winter and this moisturizer for the day time before my makeup. One way I'm saving money is by doing my own nails, so I've been loving this safer brand of polish. Also been making lots of tea recently! Peppermint tea with a little coconut creamer is so yummy. My morning tea is this cream caramel decaf from Ann Arbor Tea Haus What I'm reading: I'm finishing How We Love and then I want to read Fierce Marriage. I'm also still in Jen Wilkin's James bible study. What Lincoln's up to: Oh, he's getting sooo sweet!! He's so cuddly now and always has to be touching me when he lays down. His only issue is that at dark when we take him outside, he goes nuts if he sees another person or dog. I think cause it's dark, he can't really see and gets spooked?! During the daytime, he's totally fine. Any tips??

Happy Thursday!
xoxo interior design website / services / portfolio

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Client Reveal: Modern Farmhouse Kids Bedrooms & Bathrooms

Can't wait for you guys to see these sweet kids spaces below. These are the last of the rooms from my Modern Farmhouse project that was in the parade of homes here in Grand Rapids last May. 

Up first is one of my favorites of the boy's rooms:

curtains / similar rocker 

The basement boy's bath turned out really cool, too! I love the wall of herringbone tile, the cool mirrors and industrial hardware.

Upstairs is the sweet little girl's room where we did a wall of shiplap girly chandelier, pink headboard and really pretty gallery wall.

pom pom curtains 

Prints from Minted, PCB Home, and Evelyn Henson 

In the upstairs bathroom, we use marble hexagon tiles behind the mirror (great way to save some cost is only tile AROUND the mirror, not actually behind it!), installed gorgeous brass sconces and hardware. The color in here is Tranquility by Benjamin Moore.

Builder: Steve Visser Builder // Photography: Ashley Slater Photography

Hope you enjoyed this little tour!

xoxo

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Valentine's Day Inspiration & Decor

Valentine's Day is one day away, so to get in the mood I scoured the web for some fun pink and red inspiration! And after finding these donuts, it will now be my mission on the 14th to find some extra cute Valentine's Day inspired donuts. I kind of want to make this XOXO runner too. How easy would that be?! Just some craft paper and black paint! Maybe these will spark some festivity in you as well:

tablescape / XO table runner / heart cookies / cocktail / flower wall / donuts /  Something else I think is SO fun are balloon garlands! They're all the rage right now and I just love how my friend Tara of One Stylish Party did this one:

Will you be doing anything to celebrate or get festive?! I'm so excited to make my husband breakfast. I always set the table really cute (not sure if he cares about that, but I sure love it!) I got the fresh fruit and OJ today at the store...and got sausage, but turns out it was veggie sausage, not meat sausage, which is what I meant to get. Oops ;) Going back to the store tomorrow I guess! xoxo
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February Flowers for Your Home

Happy Monday! Hopefully this post will actually bring you some happiness from all the pretty flowers (it's kind of a photo overload, fair warning!) If you missed my first post in the Flowers for Your Home series, you can find it here. Once a month I'll be showing you an arrangement I make for my house. The flowers will always be from local grocery stores and typically they're going to be inexpensive, but today's bunch was a little more because we splurged for Valentine's Day ;)
If you're local to West Michigan, I grabbed most of these flowers from Horrock's and got the white roses and wax flower from Trader Joe's (was hoping to find greenery at TJ's but got there too late and it was gone). I spend $70 on the flowers total, but my friend and I split them up, so $35 for a full flower arrangement with specialty flowers like ranunculus still isn't THAT bad. However, last month's flowers cost $9...so January definitely won ha! For comparison, a dozen roses at another local grocery store called Meijer is $16.99 usually. That to me is VERY expensive for 12 roses that I can get for $8 at TJ's. 
Anyways, on to the pretty flowers. My friend Chelsea and her husband recently bought a fixer upper and completely redid their kitchen. I thought it'd be fun to photograph our flowers in her new kitchen for you to see little peeks.

We decided to use the exact same flowers for each of our arrangements and see how different they came out.

Flowers:

+ Roses (some standard, a couple more "garden rose" like, but didn't get their exact names)

+ Spray Roses

+ Stock

+ Lisanthus

+ Greenery (sadly, I didn't get the name of this :( I'm sorry!)

+ Ranunculus

+ Wax Flower

Isn't her kitchen lovely?

I used the mercury glass vessel, which were the vases used on the reception table at our wedding and used floral tape across the top in a grid to anchor my flowers, and Chelsea used a white compote with a floral frog to secure her flowers.

Always check the roses for a higher petal count in the center...the higher the petal count, the more they look like a garden rose variety-- like these:

We start with the base of greenery. I put some on either side of my arrangement at different heights.

Chelsea spread hers more evenly:

I started with more two favorite roses as my main flowers and put one front and center, while the other sat up and to the right a little. I also tucked my Stock flower in the back left.

 Next I filled in with some spray roses and a couple lisianthus:

I was trying to be conscious of cutting my flowers at different heights so it didn't seem to flat. I could have done this even more, so I'll work on that next time ;)

Lastly, I added my pops of color with the ranunculus and made sure they were the tallest blooms in the arrangement.  

Here's Chelseas-- I think it turned out gorgeous! She has such a knack for arranging flowers and even grows a cut flower garden in her yard in the summer and fall. Hopefully we'll do some arrangements from her garden this year for the blog.

Here's my arrangement at home on the buffet:

Oh, and I had to show you this little succulent I got for free when I purchased a fiddle leaf for a client last week! It's so cute and fits perfectly in my little tea cup, which was my great-grandmothers.

Even though I've only done two posts in this series so far, I think it's my favorite series I do! And this month's arrangement will be hard to beat. Now onto brainstorming for March's bouquet.... ;)

Hope you have a wonderful day! xoxo interior design website / services / portfolio

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